With Thanksgiving mere hours away, it’s almost time to leave work behind and eat until we all pass out. But before that happens, XXL has reached out to a dozen rappers, producers and music execs to ask them about the true nature of this American holiday and find out what they’re thankful for the most in the past year. From Mobb Deep’s Prodigy to New Orleans super-producer Mannie Fresh, from ATL breakout star Rich Homie Quan to West Coast young gun YG, legendary producer DJ Quik to another making a name for himself in Harry Fraud, XXL spoke to some of the best, brightest, and sharpest minds in the industry. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. —XXL Staff

Prodigy
Just be thankful for life and that you’re able to see another day. As far as being an American, we have so many freedoms over here that people don’t have in other countries. We’ve got so much access to things. So be thankful for your life. Things could be worse so be thankful it’s not. It don’t matter if it’s bad for you. If you’re locked up for 10 years, things could be worse; you could be doing life. If you live in the hood and you don’t have much money and you’re struggling, things could be worse; you could be dead or in jail. You’ve just gotta look at life like that. ‘Cause it can be worse. Trust me. It can be worst very fast.

Paul Rosenberg
I guess I would say I’ve really grown to appreciate how lucky I am and my company is to be able to work with artists whose music we appreciate so much and are able to figure out the best ways to share it with the world. And I don’t want to sound all, “We Are The World” on you, but we really are so happy with the people we get to work with, and love the music so much that we’re grateful for it. To be able to put out the Danny Brown Old album, Blue Chips 2 and the Marshall Mathers LP 2 in the span of a few months, that’s fuckin’ awesome, you know? [Laughs] Sometimes I’m like, wow, we’re part of all these things. And as a fan I’m just like, wow, way to go, to myself. [Laughs] Just to be able to be involved in those things is great.

Young Scooter
Just the blessing that I’ve received; just be able to do this music and have people listens to you. It’s hard to get somebody to listen to your music, so that’s why I just got to keep it going.